Add Microsoft Office 2007 Hotfix as Setup Prerequisite with BMG tool

In this article, I will show how to use the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator (aka BMG) tool to build a bootstrap for MS Office Hotfix (You can use similar steps for any hotfix). This tool will help us to build the folder required in the Visual Studio packages folder and it will show in the prerequisite window for the developer to add to its project window.

This list of Prerequisites, generated by Visual Studio, is based on the content of this specific folder: [Drive:]Program FilesMicrosoft SDKsWindowsv6.0ABootstrapperPackages

Each sub folder in this Packages folder represents a Prerequisite (Redistributable package) and contains the following files: – Product.xml manifest file – Package.xml manifest file – Redistributable files (Optional. If not found, the software will be downloaded over the Internet.)

We will be generating the Prerequisite for MS Office 2007. A recent hotfix (KB976811 available through KB976477) for Office 2007 allows us to register and load VSTO add-ins under HKLM for Office 2007.Target audience Developers using VS 2008 .NET to add hotfixes as prerequisites. In this case, we are adding MS Office hotfix so that we can later on use this item to build a VSTO solutions for all users.

The following steps are required: 1. Download the hotfix and unzipped to [Drive:]temp ([Drive:]tempoffice-kb976477-fullfile-x86-glb.exe) Note: MS will send the hotfix download link via email. Unzip the downloaded file with the provided password and make sure to test the hotfix before applying in your production environment.